Scientology Lies

by Murray Campbell

Three U.S. lawyers representing the Church of Scientology say they got a chilly reception yesterday when they tried to visit a senior Crown law officer.

The lawyers say they wanted to see Archie Campbell, Ontario's deputy attorney-general, because they believe the current investigation of the church's Toronto organization is not impartial.

The Ontario Provincial Police raided the headquarters of the Church of Scientology of Toronto in March, 1983, as part of an investigation into allegations of fraudulent activities in connection with courses offered to the public.

No charges have been laid as a result of the raid.

The lawyers say that the 1,000-page affidavit filed by the OPP in support of its application for the search warrant used to raid the Yonge Street headquarters is biased.

Stephen Lenske, a Los Angeles lawyer who said he deals with the financial affairs of L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology, said that the affidavit is based heavily on people who have brought lawsuits against the church in the United States.

He said he wanted to give Mr. Campbell documents that would show the other side of the case.

The lawyers said they showed up in Mr. Campbell's office without an appointment because they had failed to receive a response from him to previous letters and telephone calls.

They said they were willing to wait to see Mr. Campbell but were discouraged from doing so.

Mr. Campbell acknowledged that he has received letters from Scientology lawyers in the United States. "There's a whole bunch of them that keep on writing me, giving me information. I pass this stuff on to our criminal law division, which is handling the investigation." He said he could not see the U.S. lawyers because he was in a meeting for most of the day and would have difficulty accommodating "a bunch of guys (who) arrive on my doorstep" without an appointment.

The deputy attorney- general said the box of material left in his office yesterday would be passed on and "someone will look at it in due course." In a related matter yesterday, Mr. Justice John Cromarty of the Supreme Court of Ontario reserved judgment for a week on a motion that criminal contempt of courts charges against two Ontario Government lawyers be dropped.